University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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Like every class before it, the one hundredth graduating class has watched the growth of this campus.

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Commencement exercises in June, 1963, mark a significant anniversary in the history of the University of California. At the ceremonies in Memorial Stadium diplomas were awarded to the one hundredth graduating class. This is a curious fact, in that the University will not celebrate its centennnial until 1968. To explain, a look at the origin of the University is Three separate movements resulted in the of the. University — one originating in state action, one in private initiative, and one in federal legislation. At the state Constitutional Convention of 1849, recognition of the need and provision for a state university was into the Constitution. Private action began in 1853 when a group of Congregationalists and Presbyterians, led by the Reverend Henry Durant and the Reverend Samuel Hopkins Willey, opened a college preparatory school, the Contra Costa Academy, in Oakland. In 1855 they incorporated the College of California and two years later began negotiations for land north of Oakland. The townsite near this tract was later given the name Berkeley. In 1853 Congress bestowed upon the State 46,000 acres of public lands, proceeds of this sale of which were to be used for a seminary of learning. And, in 1862, the Act offered a grant of 150,000 acres of public lands to each of those states which would establish a college agriculture and the mechanic arts. Taking advantage of these grants, the California Legislature in March 1866 established an Agriculture, Mining and Mechanic Arts College. The College of California, direct ancestor of the University, was located in downtown Oakland. One of its buildings, Brayton Hall, is shown below. The earliest obtainable photograph of the Berkeley campus of the Taken from Charter Hill in 1874, it shows South Hall on the left and North Hall, which was later razed, on the right. The class of 1873, known affectionately to alumni as The Twelve was the first class to begin instruction on the present Berkeley campus. The new college had funds, but no campus. The founders of the College of California, viewing the problem, with their college in a vice versa situation, offered buildings and lands to the State. But, because they felt the State was making a grievous error in establishing a college of such limited scope, their offer was made with the provision that a complete university be established which would teach humanities as well as agriculture and mechanics. The offer was accepted, the act of March 1866 was repealed and a new act passed which created the University of This act was signed by Governor H. H. Haight on March 23, 1868, a date celebr ated each year as Charter Day. The University opened its doors in September, 1869, at the College of California site in Oakland, while buildings were being erected in Berkeley. Previously, the College of California, which had enrolled its first freshman class of eight men in 1860, had held commencement exercises, with the first being for four graduating seniors in 1864. The Board of Regents of the newly established University of California ruled that the graduates of the College of California were to be considered in all respects graduates of the University; thus the 1864 exercises of the College of California became the first Commencement of the University. 8

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As constant, though subtle compared to the construction of buildings, is the enrichment of the individual and the university community.